Hughie Lee-Smith
Lee-Smith was born in Eustis, Florida in 1915. Before working with the WPA, he ran track with Jessie Owens and earning a deree from Wayne State, he began to learn printmaking at the Karamu House in Cleveland. Karamu is Kiswahili for "a place of joyful gathering". Karamu is the oldest, producing African American theatre in the nation but has also historically been a home for printmakers, dancers, actors, and writers.
Lee-Smith died in 1999. His prints are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian and the Detroit Institute of Art.
As a printmaker, Hughie Lee-Smith is best known for his series, “The Artist's Life" which dictates, his early life in Cleveland during the Great Depression. Check out the subtle description of his life: a policeman beating a worker, closed factories, etc..
Lee-Smith was a strong drawer and highly experimental printmaker. We could easily spend this time detailing his range as a printmaker, but today lets focus on his portraits and mono prints.
The Artist's Life No.1, 1939
Lithograph
Untitled (Woman's Head) , 1985
Pencil on paper
Untitled (Head of a Woman), 1970
Monotype
Untitled (Head of a Woman), 1970
Monotype
Head of a woman with curly hair , 1969
Monotype
Untitled (Face and figure study) , 1969
Monotype
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